


only you

by hyuckheis (johnyongs)



Category: NCT (Band)
Genre: Alternate Universe - College/University, Long-Distance Relationship, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-04-18
Updated: 2018-04-18
Packaged: 2019-04-24 12:59:04
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,942
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14356017
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/johnyongs/pseuds/hyuckheis
Summary: yukhei sends donghyuck his sweaters





	only you

**Author's Note:**

> this is for e, who got me all emo yesterday abt long distance relationships  
> a really massive thank you to reem and sam, two of the most powerful people on earth, for looking over this uwuwuwuwuwu

Donghyuck doesn’t know what makes him more anxious, the double shot of espresso he took an hour ago, or the familiar dial-to-connect tone of Skype playing on his computer. He chews idly on his lip, watching the connection buffer, picking at the tape holding the cardboard box in his lap closed.

 

Then, there’s the click of the call being answered, muffled feedback, and then--

 

“Hi, baby.”

 

Donghyuck lets out a sigh he didn’t realize he’d been holding in at the familiar rasp of his boyfriend’s voice, a little distorted because of the mic, but it’s his voice all the same.

 

“Hey,” Donghyuck says, any witty greeting he had in mind dying at the image of Yukhei lying in bed, his favorite red hoodie pulled up over his head, eyes adorably puffy from sleep. It’s in these moments, right at the beginning, when it really hits him how much he misses Yukhei.

 

“What’s up?” Yukhei asks, and Donghyuck realizes he’s been just staring at the screen for a solid minute without speaking. His face burns, and he shakes his head to snap himself out of it.

 

“I got your package,” Donghyuck says, lifting up the large box in his lap. Yukhei’s lips curve up into a wide smile. If Donghyuck’s legs weren’t crossed, he’d probably be bouncing them up and down, jittery from the coffee and the sheer power of Yukhei’s smile. “I couldn’t wait and I know you want to see me open them so I just--” Donghyuck is really starting to regret the coffee. They’ve been doing this long distance thing for four years now and he really shouldn’t be making this much of a fool of himself in front of Yukhei and yet--

 

“I’m sorry, did I wake you?” Donghyuck asks, wincing.

 

“It’s okay, babe,” Yukhei says, in that serene way of his. Yukhei, when one hundred percent awake, is loud and bright and flirty. When it’s three in the morning, he’s a lot more placid, but no less kind. “I was wondering when you’d get it.”

 

Donghyuck opens his mouth, then closes it. He picks at the tape on the box again. “Okay.” He waits for Yukhei to sit up in bed, the mic picking up the rustling of bedsheets until he settles.

 

“Go for it,” Yukhei says, and Donghyuck wishes desperately to push back the hair that’s fallen into his eyes. Yukhei had dyed his hair blonde last week, and Donghyuck wonders whether it still feels as silky as his normal black, despite the damage. His fingers twitch a little, but he quells the urge. It would be really dumb if he poked at the screen like that.

 

“I’m gonna do it,” Donghyuck says dramatically, hands hovering over the top of the box ominously. Yukhei snorts, rolling his eyes.

 

“Just open it already.”

 

At that, the last vestiges of Donghyuck’s patience fizzle away, and he rips the tape off completely. His heart beats a little faster than normal as he pushes the flaps back, eyes flitting around, taking in the contents of Yukhei’s package.

 

The first thing Donghyuck pulls out is a blue whale plushie. “Oh my god,” he coos, pressing it to his chest.

 

“I went to the Smithsonian a bit back and I saw it at the gift shop. Thought of you.”

 

Donghyuck purses his lips. “Are you saying I look like a whale?” He lifts the whale to his face for comparison.

 

“Obviously,” Yukhei shoots back, but they both know it’s a lie.

 

Donghyuck has been in love with the ocean since he was a kid. Donghyuck can’t count the number of times he and Yukhei had ditched school so they could sit at the pier and watch the dolphins jump through the waves and the sea lions bark, sunbathing on the buoys.

 

(Donghyuck distinctly remembers a time when he was fifteen and Yukhei had almost gotten into a fight with a seagull who swooped in and plucked his ice cream cone right out of his hand. Yukhei had been utterly outraged and Donghyuck remembers laughing so hard he fell into the sand.)

 

“It’s super cute,” Donghyuck says, kissing the top of the whale’s head. It smells a little bit like Yukhei’s cologne.

 

“What’re you gonna name it?” Yukhei asks, because Donghyuck names all his stuffed animals, crafts elaborate background stories for them, and arranges them just so on his bed.

 

Donghyuck hums in consideration. “I have to think about it, but I’ll let you know when I do.” He sets the plushie carefully aside, on top of one of his pillows. He wiggles his fingers, trying to decide what to look at next.

 

He ends up picking up a small velvet jewelry box. It almost looks like an engagement ring box, but he knows Yukhei wouldn’t be that stupid to propose while Donghyuck hasn’t even graduated college yet, and especially not over Skype. That would be grounds for Donghyuck to book a flight to New York just to beat him up.

 

(Donghyuck would say yes, though. Without hesitation.)

 

(They should really wait on that though.)

 

(He would still say yes.)

 

He shoots Yukhei a suspicious look anyway, and Yukhei smirks. Donghyuck wishes his heart didn’t lurch when Yukhei did that, but it does, because he’s foolish and a little shallow, and his boyfriend is really hot. He opens the box, and there’s a ring inside.

 

“If this is an engagement ring, I’ll kill you,” Donghyuck says.

 

“Getting a little ahead of ourselves, aren’t we?” Yukhei drawls, eyes bright and teasing, and Donghyuck huffs, irritated. He takes the ring out of the velvet, and holds it up to the light. It’s a simple silver ring, with the words _Rising Sun_ carved on the outside. “Check the inside too,” Yukhei says, and Donghyuck does as he’s told, tilting it to read _Xuxi_ engraved on the inside.

 

“We match,” Yukhei sais, holding up the hand not holding his phone, to show the same ring on his right hand. Donghyuck doesn’t have to ask to know his probably has _Full Sun_ written on it. Yukhei was probably dumb enough to engrave _Duckie_ on the inside too.

 

Donghyuck slips the ring onto his finger, not even surprised that it fits perfectly. He’s always been obsessed with rings, and Yukhei had bought him so many in the past, it would be weird not to know each other’s sizes. “It’s really pretty, Yukhei,” he says.

 

It’s a little foolish, but having matching sets of things always makes Donghyuck feel like he’s closer to Yukhei, like Donghyuck isn’t in San Diego, spending more time on research boats and roasting in the sun than in lecture, while Yukhei’s in New York City, getting his fancy engineering degree, neither of them really knowing when they’ll see each other.

 

“You deserve pretty things,” Yukhei says, and at any other time, he’d wiggle his eyebrows salaciously and Donghyuck would gag because _greasy_ , but it’s the middle of the night on the east coast, and everything Yukhei says just comes off as startlingly sincere.

 

“Gross,” Donghyuck says anyway, huffing and trying to hide the blush by peering back down into the box. The next thing he picks up is a book, and the title immediately makes him grin.

 

“ _Surviving Your Stupid Stupid Decision to Go to Grad School,_ by Adam Ruben,” Donghyuck reads, looking at Yukhei again. “I haven’t even applied and you’re already attacking me?”

 

“I thought it was funny,” Yukhei says, grinning again, wide enough that his dimple shows.

 

(Donghyuck wishes he could kiss it.)

 

(He wishes he could kiss Yukhei, period.)

 

(Next time they see each other, Donghyuck’s going to spend hours sitting in Yukhei’s lap kissing him, because he needs to make up for all the times he wanted to but couldn’t. Yukhei probably won’t complain much about it anyway.)

 

“Did you read it?” Yukhei nods. Donghyuck tilts his head. “Any good?”

 

“It was very… illuminating.”

 

Donghyuck laughs at the vagueness. “I’ll read it when I can and give you my full report, captain.” The smile on his face softens when Yukhei mock salutes him.

 

The next things in the box is two large packages of shark gummies, because Donghyuck’s obsessed with them for some weird reason, and sea otter printed socks that Donghyuck puts on immediately, wiggling his feet in front of the screen so Yukhei can see.

 

“And now, for the moment you’ve all been waiting for,” Donghyuck drawls, grinning when Yukhei huffs out a laugh. He pulls out the hoodie, packed all the way at the bottom, and unfolds it, holding it up.

 

It’s one of Yukhei’s old Supreme hoodies, black but starting to grey a little from being worn one too many times. Donghyuck presses it to his face and sniffs it, because he can, and Yukhei had caught onto his smell-obsession their senior year of high school anyway and Donghyuck spends most of their cuddle-time with his nose pressed to Yukhei’s chest or nose, breathing in deeply, like the smell will settle in his bones if he inhales long enough.

 

The smell of Yukhei’s cologne triggers a sort of Pavlovian response in Donghyuck. Immediately, he thinks of _home,_ of Yukhei’s arms around him, kissing his hair. He’d been in a weird sort of withdrawal since the last item of clothing Yukhei sent him (an HBA long sleeve that Donghyuck wore to sleep every day for a week) had stopped smelling like him.

 

“Good?” Yukhei asks, like he’s reading Donghyuck’s mind. He probably could, at this point in their relationship.

 

“Mhm,” Donghyuck says, voice muffled into the fabric, but Yukhei gets the point. There’s a very smug, satisfied look on his face, and Donghyuck smiles sheepishly, kind of annoyed with himself for feeding Yukhei’s ego, but mostly relieved to have something of Yukhei’s to call his own (or at least until the scent wears off, and he has to send it back).

 

“You should put it on,” Yukhei says. “See if it fits, you know.” Donghyuck has to laugh at that, because the odds of Yukhei’s clothes ever fitting him is impossible, but he entertains it anyway. He hurries to unzip the jacket he’s wearing now and tug the hoodie over his head. The sweater is far too large, and yet, absolutely perfect.

 

(Sometimes, if Donghyuck closes his eyes, he can pretend Yukhei just pulled it off and gave it to him. If he tries hard enough, he can feel Yukhei’s body warmth in the fabric too.)

 

“It’s a perfect fit, chief,” Donghyuck says, sticking out his hands and letting the sleeves fall well past his hands. He flaps them around a little, and Yukhei does that stupid little giggle that doesn’t seem like it should come out of someone with his body and face.

 

“Cute,” Yukhei murmurs, and despite himself, Donghyuck blushes. It’s quiet again for a while, Yukhei clearly admiring Donghyuck in his clothes (it’s as much A Thing for him as it is for Donghyuck).

 

“Thank for everything,” Donghyuck says quietly, because he’s not sure how much longer he can stand Yukhei looking at him like that before he bursts out into tears. He’s supposed to be happy with all the things Yukhei got him, and he _is,_ but he would trade all of it just to see Yukhei again, face to face, even if just for a few moments.

 

“Of course,” Yukhei says back, and his eyes are a little more serious, a little bit sad. He’s probably thinking the same thing. “I wish I could kiss you right now, baby.”

 

It feels like a jolt down his spine, something warm and electric under his skin. It mixes with the longing and sadness in a strange, but not unpleasant way. Maybe Donghyuck’s just getting used to it.

 

“I wish you could kiss me,” Donghyuck says quietly, not looking up, because he’s probably bright red. “I miss you.”

 

“I miss you too. So much.”

 

It still feels strange, being serious like this. Donghyuck and Yukhei had become friends during Donghyuck’s freshman year of high school, when Donghyuck upended his Gatorade over the head of someone trying to bully Yukhei for his accent. Donghyuck had ended up in detention and Yukhei had insisted on staying with him the whole time, surprisingly chatty for someone who was learning his fifth language.

 

(“You’re my knight in shining armor,” Yukhei says fondly, every time they recall their first meeting. It feels a little weird now, because during the next three years, Yukhei shot up an entire twelve inches and joined the basketball team. He is easily the strongest of the two, but that doesn’t mean Donghyuck still wouldn’t throw hands to defend Yukhei’s honor.)

 

Their whole friendship had been colored by pranks and laughter and teasing, always bordering on something more, until Yukhei bit the bullet and asked Donghyuck to be his not-platonic date to his senior prom during the middle of one of his games.

 

(Donghyuck had said yes, of course. And then he’d kissed Yukhei right in the middle of the gymnasium, in front of the entire basketball team, the people in the stands, and the marching band.)

 

Long distance is hard. Donghyuck can’t count the number of times people had given him pity looks when he mentioned it, so now he just doesn’t. Nobody really understands how he feels about Yukhei, and that’s okay. It’s those feelings that make the perpetual heartbreak worth it.

 

“I meant to tell you... about the job offers.”

 

Donghyuck hums so Yukhei knows he’s listening, even though he’s looking down and picking at the loose threads on the hem of the hoodie. Yukhei has been getting love calls from all sorts of companies, because despite him being a total and utter moron, he’s actually ridiculously smart-- in a math and science sense, anyway.

 

Yukhei has been busy flying out for interviews and Skyping when he couldn’t, and Donghyuck has spent the last few months in a state of apprehension, wondering where Yukhei’s path will land him next, and whether there’s any way that the choices Donghyuck makes will put him there too.

 

“SpaceX wants me to be part of a rover project, like an internship,” Yukhei says. The knot in Donghyuck’s chest loosens a little, and he finally musters up the courage to look at the screen. Los Angeles isn’t ridiculously far from San Diego. It’s a couple hours by train, and that’s definitely more doable than flying across the country.

 

“That’s… amazing, Yukhei,” Donghyuck says sincerely, but he’s still a bit afraid. “Are you gonna take the job?”

 

Yukhei shrugs, face neutral. “I was thinking about it… but…”

 

Donghyuck’s anxiety grows tenfold. “But?”

 

“There’s a Boeing office in SD, they offered me a full-time job.”

 

Donghyuck blinks stupidly at the screen, processing the words. Yukhei’s got a goofy grin on his face now, and in hindsight, that’s probably why he looked so serious this whole time-- the idiot was trying to keep a straight face. “You… SD? As in… San Diego?”

 

“The San Diego where one Donghyuck Lee lives,” Yukhei confirms.

 

“I--” Donghyuck doesn’t really know what to say. He scrambles to form a coherent thought, because in the four years they’ve been doing this, he never really allowed himself to think about a scenario where they were in the same place, at the same time. “You’re not just… doing this cuz of me, right?”

 

Yukhei’s smile turns into something warmer, more subtle. “Well… of course I am. At least partially.”

 

“Yukhei--”

 

“You know I’d follow you around the world if I could,” Yukhei says, voice dipping into something low. Donghyuck feels the sting of tears at the back of his eyelids. “And now I can.”

 

“I don’t… want you to have to decide what you do, just cuz of me. I only have one more year until I graduate, and then--”

 

“And _then,_ you and I both know Scripps has been dying to have you in their grad program. So you’ll stay in SD.”

 

“But Yukhei…”

 

“The job’s a really great opportunity for me too, Hyuck. It’s not like I’m exactly compromising, since it’s what I wanted from the get-go.” Donghyuck can feel his bottom lip wobbling dangerously, and Yukhei leans forward into the screen. “I thought it would be good for us… you know I’d do anything to be with you.”

 

And that’s what does it. Donghyuck feels the first wave of hot tears run down his face, throat closing up almost painfully. “No… baby… I didn’t mean to make you cry--” Yukhei is clearly panicking at Donghyuck’s sudden shift in emotions.

 

“I’m not sad, dumb butt, these are happy tears,” he sniffs, wiping his face with the sleeve of Yukhei’s hoodie.

 

“Oh… well…” Yukhei looks like he’s unsure. “I’m glad? Uhm. I didn’t mean for you to cry though.”

 

“I’m easily emotional, you know that!” Donghyuck blubbers, trying to stop crying because it’s not exactly productive, but the relief settling over him makes it difficult.

 

“Oh man…” Yukhei sighs, and Donghyuck takes a second from blowing his nose into a tissue to look at him through the screen. Yukhei’s got his chin in his hand, and he looks conflicted. “I really wish I could be there right now.”

 

There’s that familiar pang of longing in Donghyuck’s gut again. He thought he’d get used to this-- this distance-- but truthfully, it only gets worse the longer they’re apart. But the hope of the future is like a balm, soothing the bone-deep ache.

 

“Me too,” Donghyuck says, blowing his nose again with finality. “But soon.”

 

Yukhei smiles, always fond, always so full of love, that even with three thousand miles between them, Donghyuck could never ever doubt his love. “Soon.”

  
  


**Author's Note:**

> I DONT KNOW! 
> 
> also dont @ me but i might write ? a spin off of this where 00 line doesn't believe hyuck actually has a bf but we will see! 
> 
> also if anyone is interested, ive been doing social media aus on my twt: theres a [college au](https://twitter.com/hyuckheis/status/975137216426008576) and a [rival models au](https://twitter.com/hyuckheis/status/978107875544322048) if ur interested in the other narrative forms ive injected my hyuckhei bullshit into 
> 
> [twitter](https://twitter.com/hyuckheis) || [curiouscat](https://curiouscat.me/hyuckheis) || [tumblr](https://hvuckheis.tumblr.com/)


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